It is more than a simple "CICO" - why can't we just admit it?
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There IS a lot that you need to get right to enable you to maintain control.optimal health/happiness over diet, but knowing CICO lets you know exactly what the target to aim all that other stuff at (or where it fits around) is.0
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3rdof7sisters wrote: »I know for a fact people were counting calories 50 years ago. I did it. I had a little book with calories of common foods. Weight watchers has been around a long time. What has skyrocketed in the past 50 years is, the availability of food. Fast food stores, convenience stores with quick & fast foods, grocery stores etc, all open 24 hours per day. Our lives are more sedentary compared to what they were, and we have more demanding schedules on the whole. There are a multitude of reasons that may or may not contribute. But, no one can argue that for many overweight people, we are eating more calories, than we are burning, or at least we were until we found MFP
Thank you. Of COURSE they were.
Why would someone think that no one knew what a calorie was, or bothered with it, 40 years ago??? Do they think that there were dinosaurs back then, too?6 -
fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »3rdof7sisters wrote: »I know for a fact people were counting calories 50 years ago. I did it. I had a little book with calories of common foods. Weight watchers has been around a long time. What has skyrocketed in the past 50 years is, the availability of food. Fast food stores, convenience stores with quick & fast foods, grocery stores etc, all open 24 hours per day. Our lives are more sedentary compared to what they were, and we have more demanding schedules on the whole. There are a multitude of reasons that may or may not contribute. But, no one can argue that for many overweight people, we are eating more calories, than we are burning, or at least we were until we found MFP
Thank you. Of COURSE they were.
Why would someone think that no one knew what a calorie was, or bothered with it, 40 years ago??? Do they think that there were dinosaurs back then, too?
Sure there were, but do you have any idea how many calories are in a T-rex drumstick? Just stay away from that stuff!6 -
CafeRacer808 wrote: »fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »
"Simple" doesn't always mean "easy". Sometimes the simplest solutions are still difficult to execute in practice. Weight loss is a perfect example.
Not sure what that has to do with my reply to the OP. I said nothing about anything being "simple" or "easy".
It has everything to do with your reply. You were trying to make the arguement that weight loss isn't simple because resisting food is hard work. This indicates you believe that simple = easy.
What?? I was not trying to make any such argument. The OP stated that "all one has to do is shut their piehole". As if that was all there was to it. A piece of cake.
Anyone that has EVER tried to lose weight, would know differently.
You completely misunderstood my post.1 -
CICO is a good starting point for many people, especially those of us who tend to overthink. I don't even want to talk about all the time I wasted trying to mash together highly restrictive diet plans with overly complex workouts (that never even started) because I wanted to "lose weight" and could not focus on being healthy.
CICO helped simplify eating. I went through a childhood where everything either came out of a fast food restaurant or can. Relatives would regularly shame people for not eating a full plate of fried food. Any sort of weight loss effort was perceived as something mystical and highly complex. I grew up with those beliefs and even went through years of struggling on the eating disorder spectrum. While I did recover, I know that the mindset for not knowing how to eat, or having disordered eating is still present.
Learning about CICO was very refreshing. Implementing it helped me go from maintaining a weight around 240 lbs. for the past eight years to seeing an 11 pound drop since joining MFP in late December. The concept was simple enough for me to understand. I could have a treat every once in awhile, and if I don't want my intake to go over the specified baseline necessary to lose weight, I'm going to have to move.
I like to think of CICO in a similar fashion to learning to program. One of the first tasks we complete in a language is creating an application that prints "Hello World", or our name. Creating this application does not, in any way, make us a full-fledged programmer, but it does put us on the right track to learn and adapt more to the environment and variables given.
Likewise, CICO is not the end-all, be-all, but it has gotten me and plenty of others on the right track. I have and use plenty of home gym equipment that for years sat stagnant. I incorporate cardio and strength training. I set little goals. I research foods and nutrients and see what combinations work to help me feel full without cravings. No week is perfect, but I can shoot to burn more than I take in. We all have to start somewhere. Cheers!9 -
fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »3rdof7sisters wrote: »I know for a fact people were counting calories 50 years ago. I did it. I had a little book with calories of common foods. Weight watchers has been around a long time. What has skyrocketed in the past 50 years is, the availability of food. Fast food stores, convenience stores with quick & fast foods, grocery stores etc, all open 24 hours per day. Our lives are more sedentary compared to what they were, and we have more demanding schedules on the whole. There are a multitude of reasons that may or may not contribute. But, no one can argue that for many overweight people, we are eating more calories, than we are burning, or at least we were until we found MFP
Thank you. Of COURSE they were.
Why would someone think that no one knew what a calorie was, or bothered with it, 40 years ago??? Do they think that there were dinosaurs back then, too?
Sure there were, but do you have any idea how many calories are in a T-rex drumstick? Just stay away from that stuff!
If they clone dinosaurs I will try it lol2 -
bigislandgrrl wrote: »
I'm skeptical of his claim to have been consuming "about 2000 calories on average daily," unless he's been steadily losing weight -- he doesn't give his stats, but unless he's way below average height for a male, I'm not buying it. Plus, the way he phrased it, it sounds like an eyeballing, recollection-rather-than-real-time-tracking estimate. Bottom-line, without knowing what he burns on maintenance, I don't know how to take the results of his 4,000 calorie a day experiment.
Confession, I only listened to about half of it, because he rambles and I got bored.
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Rebecca0224 wrote: »fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »3rdof7sisters wrote: »I know for a fact people were counting calories 50 years ago. I did it. I had a little book with calories of common foods. Weight watchers has been around a long time. What has skyrocketed in the past 50 years is, the availability of food. Fast food stores, convenience stores with quick & fast foods, grocery stores etc, all open 24 hours per day. Our lives are more sedentary compared to what they were, and we have more demanding schedules on the whole. There are a multitude of reasons that may or may not contribute. But, no one can argue that for many overweight people, we are eating more calories, than we are burning, or at least we were until we found MFP
Thank you. Of COURSE they were.
Why would someone think that no one knew what a calorie was, or bothered with it, 40 years ago??? Do they think that there were dinosaurs back then, too?
Sure there were, but do you have any idea how many calories are in a T-rex drumstick? Just stay away from that stuff!
If they clone dinosaurs I will try it lol
Bet it tastes like chicken.4 -
CafeRacer808 wrote: »Hello_its_Dan wrote: »mikeisgod83 wrote: »The difference from person to person "in general" is not a great deal. If you cut your calories by roughly 500-700 daily (some people do more, some less) even with minimal mislabeled nutrition information, you will lose. Exactly as pointed out above, if you're dropping 500 calories today, from what you were eating before and you're not seeing weight loss, adjust it to 600, or 700, wait a week or two and see if you're losing then. Once you find a good amount of calories to take in, stick to that for a while. Weigh and adjust, its that easy.
Just poking the hornets nest here a little!
So you're telling me that my wife who maintains her weight at 1200 calories a day should cut 500-700 calories from her diet to lose weight?
She's an endometriosis patient on heavy medication throwing hormones out of whack.
Flag on the play!
So you're just admitting to trolling at this point? The bolded portions of @mikeisgod83 invalidate your use of your wife's circumstances as an appropriate counter-argument. C'mon man...
Nah I know she needs more activity and not less calories.
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fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »CafeRacer808 wrote: »
"Simple" doesn't always mean "easy". Sometimes the simplest solutions are still difficult to execute in practice. Weight loss is a perfect example.
Not sure what that has to do with my reply to the OP. I said nothing about anything being "simple" or "easy".
It has everything to do with your reply. You were trying to make the arguement that weight loss isn't simple because resisting food is hard work. This indicates you believe that simple = easy.
What?? I was not trying to make any such argument. The OP stated that "all one has to do is shut their piehole". As if that was all there was to it. A piece of cake.
Anyone that has EVER tried to lose weight, would know differently.
You completely misunderstood my post.
Sigh...you still don't get it. "Shut your pie hole" is another way of saying "control your eating". There's really nothing more too weight loss than that...it really is that simple, even if it's "HARD", as you say.
And what does cake have to do with it? I assume you're going to say, "It's hard to turn down a piece of cake." Yeah, that's probably true. But if eating that cake means going over on your calories, the solution is simple: don't eat the cake. Does that make solution easy? Nope.1 -
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Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »
I think they meant that people who try to lose weight with different mental issues often struggle because of their mental issues, so to say its just a piece of cake and that its easy, that others would know better, at least i think thats what she meant.. which might make my above post make more sense also lol
They never made any inference to mental issues but sure, whatever... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My original statement still stands though. The concept of weight loss is really as simple as "eat less". But that's often a very difficult concept to put into practice.1 -
OP, I feel ya'. I totally get where you're coming from. But, you just can't post stuff like that here. The diet police WILL call you out on YOUR feelings and YOUR opinions. And then they'll bring all kinds of science into the argument too, sheesh. That being said, I personally try to use my CICO tools as more of a guideline, and recalibrate my limits if it seems like my weight loss is slowing or stopping.
ETA: A good place for "feeling" posts is in your newsfeed with your hopefully more supportive friends. Need more friends? Look through this post and add the people who seem to take your side or at least get you. I could always use another friend . . . .1 -
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CICO works like this ...
CI = CO ... maintain weight.
CI>CO ... gain weight.
CI<CO ... lose weight.
It's simple.
But saying it is simple doesn't always mean that it is easy. Nor does it mean that we each have to eat and do the same things.6 -
She is a grown woman who made a frustrated post about how different people are different. Get over yourself already. You are one of the main ones I see that lurks around on these forums just waiting for someone to post something you can pounce on, correct, and then ride them like a paint horse when they try to explain their meaning and defend what amounts to their own little personally frustrated opinion. I don't do detoxes or cleanses. But, I know that some people, for various health reasons, may lose weight at different rates. So, while it is basically CICO, the equation isn't as simple and static for some as it is for others. Like the OP said, inaccuracies abound in the measurement of CICO. And, sometimes when people get frustrated, what they really need is a sympathetic ear who can offer feedback without the snark.1
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nomorepuke wrote: »
I feel very sorry for you. I've lost 21lbs in little over a month by eating more. I don't count calories because I stop when I'm full. Simply, I had gained weight because of not being able to eat. All I ate was fast/frozen/processed junk on the go.
Majority of the people think like you. Thus, weight loss is one of the most lucrative industries. They want you to think that way. They want you to yo-yo. They don't want you to get educated on how nutrition works in your system.
Look at the most attractive thread in here "Serial Starters" !!!!
I'm guessing what is happening here is that you have replaced calorie dense processed food, with less calorie dense whole and unprocessed foods. If that's that case, of course you can eat more and lose weight. It's still CICO.
Peace
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »bigislandgrrl wrote: »
I'm skeptical of his claim to have been consuming "about 2000 calories on average daily," unless he's been steadily losing weight -- he doesn't give his stats, but unless he's way below average height for a male, I'm not buying it. Plus, the way he phrased it, it sounds like an eyeballing, recollection-rather-than-real-time-tracking estimate. Bottom-line, without knowing what he burns on maintenance, I don't know how to take the results of his 4,000 calorie a day experiment.
Confession, I only listened to about half of it, because he rambles and I got bored.
He is on day 13 now and down a little over a pound.
There is a thread going on it in the Debate section0 -
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Meow. We've all got valid points and as far as I can tell (look it's kriss) is a long term mfp user and her points, discussions and comments are completely valid. Some people just don't like people being forthright, straight up and unfiltered.4
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Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »She is a grown woman who made a frustrated post about how different people are different. Get over yourself already. You are one of the main ones I see that lurks around on these forums just waiting for someone to post something you can pounce on, correct, and then ride them like a paint horse when they try to explain their meaning and defend what amounts to their own little personally frustrated opinion. I don't do detoxes or cleanses. But, I know that some people, for various health reasons, may lose weight at different rates. So, while it is basically CICO, the equation isn't as simple and static for some as it is for others. Like the OP said, inaccuracies abound in the measurement of CICO. And, sometimes when people get frustrated, what they really need is a sympathetic ear who can offer feedback without the snark.
Oh you got me, i totally spend all day here, lurking.. lol
As i already stated above, I have an eating disorder so i am well aware that its not always "that easy"...
However, This is a learning experience.. We are not meant to compare our losses to the rate of someone else, our losses are our losses. My friend and I are the same age, weight and height, obviously she and i are not going to lose the same, my job though is to get to know myself and stop focusing on her, when i spend the time learning how my own body works then i can make adjustments to the calories going in as well as the calories going out.
Like i said in the nutrisystem thread, you can't always sugar coat things all the time for people.
Yes sure, we could all sit here and listen, offer sympathetic sentiments etc, but then what? Whats the person having the struggles going to do after? I believe i did read back some where someone did say to them that people just needed to find their own balance of CICO, was that not acceptable because it didnt agree with the OP and not sound sympathetic enough?
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Tom and Hank do require the same energy to digest their food, they have the same chemical process underway.
The girl who didn't lose the same weight might have cheated at work, or maybe runs a degree cooler in her body temp. Each can find their own CICO and work from there.2 -
Oh you got me, i totally spend all day here, lurking.. lol
As i already stated above, I have an eating disorder so i am well aware that its not always "that easy"...
However, This is a learning experience.. We are not meant to compare our losses to the rate of someone else, our losses are our losses. My friend and I are the same age, weight and height, obviously she and i are not going to lose the same, my job though is to get to know myself and stop focusing on her, when i spend the time learning how my own body works then i can make adjustments to the calories going in as well as the calories going out.
Like i said in the nutrisystem thread, you can't always sugar coat things all the time for people.
Yes sure, we could all sit here and listen, offer sympathetic sentiments etc, but then what? Whats the person having the struggles going to do after? I believe i did read back some where someone did say to them that people just needed to find their own balance of CICO, was that not acceptable because it didnt agree with the OP and not sound sympathetic enough?
Holy geez. I never said I was the ONLY person who was sympathetic, or that there weren't enough sympathizers. Is there an "only one sympathetic person per thread" rule, or what? And, actually I said something along those same lines, is there a rule against that too? Anyway, "We are not meant to compare our losses to the rate of someone else", and yet the CICO formula is exactly that. It says, if you are X, Y, and Z, you should weigh this. And, if you eat A calories and expend B calories, you will lose C amount of weight. All of that is based on someone else with the same stats. And, you're right about the sugar coating thing. But, in my personal opinion, the OP was looking for a sympathetic ear, hence the reason I gave the advice for her to not post stuff like that here. Dang, your horse looks tired, you wanna' borrow my mule?2 -
WOW!!!
5 pages for an acronym that does not even exist. It's a made up word only found in these forums.
And the funny thing is, even if it was a real thing, the people who are too lazy to exercise only use the CI part, and the people think they can control their weight just by exercising only use the CO part. Then it turns into a battle between CI & CO.
There are many funny sayings on these forums.
"weight loss starts in the kitchen" ~so does getting fat~
"you can't out exercise a bad diet" ~starving yourself is worse~
I know most people don't want to hear this, but if you want to be healthy, you MUST put the work in.
There are no shortcut diets because every one of them are BS.
There are no shortcut workout plan because every one of them are BS.
You MUST get the recommended exercise, which means you MUST huff and puff and sweat for a certain number of minutes per session and a certain number of sessions per week.
THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS!!!
You MUST eat a nutritious well balanced diet and keep junk food to a minimum.
THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS!!!
You SHOULD NOT have to weigh every gram of food you put in your mouth for the rest of your life.
You SHOULD be able to eat a cheese steak or a couple slices of pizza here and there without blowing up like a freaking balloon.
THERE IS NO CICO!!!
Only people who are too lazy to put the work in.
For the record, I mean this in a nice way.0 -
Who likes cheese?3
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bcalvanese wrote: »
Lol:-)0 -
The calculations work perfectly for me WHEN I stick to them. 50f/peri menopause/partial hysterectomy (3 of the things I thought made me a special snowflake). I lose 2 lbs per week as projected by the calculations.
Now if someone says sticking to your calorie goal is not that simple I could agree wholeheartedly.
I think (baring medical issues) one has to dig deep to see why they are not successful and work at differing methods to stay within the calorie goal.
I've learned from snarky posts as well. Did I get hurt feelings? Sure a couple of times but dang it if you have information that may help me be successful I'm all ears!2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRop_ltYUlk&index=1&list=PLfR-8rhslnU9rTQhdJITphrswXFkOJWg8&t=93s
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